The times and tribulations of Al Capone and Bugs Moran
Al Capone was born in Brooklyn, New York to Italian immigrants, the fourth child of eight. From a relatively early age, Capone became involved in the gang life of Brooklyn and New York (5 Points Gang, Brooklyn Rippers, Junior Forty Thieves), and worked as both a bouncer and a bartender at local night clubs. It was while serving as a bouncer that Capone apparently “inadvertently insulted a woman” whose brother then slashed Capone’s face (Note: do not mess with girls who have big brothers). From then on, Al became known as Scarface.
Bugs Moran was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, of Polish-Irish descent (you’ve probably heard more about his Irish ancestry). Like Capone, Moran became involved in street crime at an early age; he was reportedly incarcerated three times before he turned 21. At the age of 19, Moran moved to the North Side of Chicago, where he began to work his way up the hierarchy of the North Side Gang. Moran received the name “Bugs” – slang for “crazy”- because he apparently had a horrible temper and was just a little bit off his rocker. Really?
Prohibition
On January 29, 1919, the ratification of the 18th amendment was certified, prohibiting the production and distribution of all alcohol…except that used for religious purposes. One year later, Prohibition went into effect. It was during this time that Capone and his mentor Johnny Torio moved to the South Side of Chicago, forming the South Side Gang (the names are very creative) and quickly became involved in the bootlegging empire of Chicago. Without going into too much detail, frequent skirmishes between the South Side Gang, North Side Gang (also big into bootlegging) and others were frequent to say the least, and a major turf war erupted between Moran and Capone. Moran, apparently believing himself to be a “better Catholic” than Capone because he did not engage in prostitution (Capone was both a bootlegger and the head of a prostitution ring…he did have syphilis, after all). Various attempts were made on each others lives, usually involving the death of at least a couple personal friends and/or security guards, but the two miraculously kept each other from killing the other.
Valentine’s Day
On February 14, 1929, six members of Moran’s gang- and one other dude- were in a garage in Lincoln Park (the North Side of Chicago) when the men were confronted by 4-6 other men, two dressed as Chicago policemen. I won’t go into the gory details, but it’s pretty darn gross, to say the least. While it’s still unclear as to whether or not all of the men were directly connected with the South Side gang (Moran was in the middle of hijacking Capone’s Detroit bootlegging business), it’s generally believed that Capone either orchestrated or directly led what would end in the slaughter of all seven men, one apparently misidentified by the killers as Moran himself (that had been the plan after all…kill the leader). Where Moran actually was depends on who you ask.
The End
It was following the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre that the federal government finally clued in on the illegal behavior of Capone; the Massacre also produced an outrage among the citizens of Chicago unlike criminal activity before. The Massacre also made a major dent in the power and strength of the Northside Gang, a dent which some claim they never recovered from.
By 1931, Capone had been arrested on income tax evasion and was sentenced to 11 years in prison. In prison (including a stint at Alcatraz), Capone’s health continued to deteriorate (syphilis is not a friend to the human body), and Capone was apparently often heard ranting about “Communists, foreigners and Bugs Moran.” Capone had a stroke in late January 1947, followed by pneumonia, followed by cardiac arrest; Capone finally passed away on January 25, 1947.
Moran himself was eventually eliminated from gang life in Chicago (apparently he wasn’t a very smart guy, and some say he was his own biggest problem), and spent his remaining years in and out of prison with little to no money. Finally dying from lung cancer in 1957, he was buried in the prison cemetery with approximately $100 to his name.
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